National Blog

Congress Set to Invade Your Privacy Again

On Thursday, Congress is scheduled to begin consideration of H.R. 3523, the "Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011" (CISPA).

This bill is the next great threat to our privacy over the Internet, but unlike the fight against SOPA and PIPA, Internet giants like Facebook and Twitter are openly supporting CISPA.

And as I write this, House Leadership is quietly working hard to gain your representative's support, including holding classified, "members only" meetings to make their case.

I'm counting on your immediate action to halt this bill's progress and protect our privacy from the government's ever-expanding reach.

CISPA is promoted as a harmless bill to facilitate the voluntary exchange of information between the private sector and government intelligence agencies.

In reality, it would allow the transfer of vast amounts of data, including personally identifiable information, to any agency in the federal government - including the National Security Agency.

The overly broad legislation has the potential to override all existing privacy laws due to a "notwithstanding any other provision in law" clause that grants companies immunity for sharing your information with the government.

So I need you to call your representative through the Capitol Hill Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and demand a "NO" vote on H.R. 3523.

Tell Congress to also reject any other legislation regarding our online privacy that does not adequately defend the rights of Americans by including strong civil liberties protections.

After you've called Congress, please chip in $25 to help Campaign for Liberty fight CISPA and continue standing up for the American people's privacy.

With a vote coming up this week, you and I don't have a moment to lose.